The present invention relates generally to subterranean well intercept operations commonly utilized in oil and natural gas exploration and production. In particular, this invention relates to an apparatus and method for intercepting and penetrating a cased target well, for example, during near-parallel well intercept operations.
Wellbore intercept operations are common in various downhole drilling operations, for example, in well kill operations, relief well operations, and coal bed methane (CBM) drilling operations in which a horizontal well is intended to intercept multiple vertical pilot wells. Well intercept operations have also been proposed for certain well abandonment operations. When oil and gas wells are no longer commercially viable, they must typically be abandoned in accordance with local government regulations. These regulations vary from one jurisdiction to another, however, generally require one or more permanent barriers to isolate the wellbore. More recently certain jurisdictions have proposed and/or required that additional isolation be employed in some previously abandoned wells. The additional isolation required can vary (e.g., it may include the deployment of a cement plug in the well), but generally requires access to the well. One significant difficulty in these operations is that there may be no longer surface accessibility to many of these wells.
Well intercept operations (also referred to in the art as well interception operations) have been used with some success to obtain access to the previously drilled wells. However, many well intercept operations fail due to the difficultly in positioning the drilling well in the correct location and orientation adjacent to the target well. This difficulty is magnified in well abandonment operations due to the requirement that the drilling well penetrate the target well casing. The invention disclosed herein is intended to address these difficulties.